07/29/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/29/2025 14:02
Hawaiian
Tax-Free Trust
Summary Prospectus | July 29, 2025
| Tickers: | Class A - HULAX | Class C - HULCX | Class F - HULFX | Class Y - HULYX |
This summary prospectus is designed to provide investors with key Trust information in a clear and concise format. Before you invest, you may want to review the Trust's complete Prospectus, which contains more information about the Trust and its risks. You can find the Trust's Prospectus, reports to shareholders, and other information about the Trust online at www.hawaiiantaxfreetrust.com. You can also get this information at no cost by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free). If you purchase shares of the Trust through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank), the Prospectus and other information will also be available from your financial intermediary. The Trust's Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, both dated July 29, 2025, are incorporated by reference into this summary prospectus and may be obtained, free of charge, at the website or phone number noted above.
Investment Objective
The Trust's objective is to provide you as high a level of current income exempt from Hawaiian state and regular Federal income taxes as is consistent with preservation of capital.
Fees and Expenses of the Trust
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Trust. You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below. If you invest in Class A Shares, you may qualify for sales charge discounts if you and your immediate family invest, or agree to invest in the future, at least $50,000 in the Trust. More information about these and other discounts is available from your financial advisor and under "Alternative Purchase Plans" on page 22 of the Trust's Prospectus, "Sales Charges - Class A Shares" on page 24 of the Prospectus, "Broker-Defined Sales Charge Waiver Policies" on page 35 of the Prospectus, and "Purchase, Redemption, and Pricing of Shares" on page 31 of the Statement of Additional Information (the "SAI"). If you invest in Class F Shares or Class Y Shares, you may be required to pay a commission to a broker, which is not reflected in the Expense Example.
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Class A Shares |
Class C Shares |
Class F Shares |
Class Y Shares |
|
| Shareholder Fees (fees paid directly from your investment) | ||||
|
Maximum Sales Charge (Load) Imposed on Purchases (as a percentage of offering price) |
3.00% | None | None | None |
|
Maximum Deferred Sales Charge (Load) (as a percentage of the lesser of redemption value or purchase price) |
None(1) | 1.00% | None | None |
|
Annual Trust Operating Expenses (Expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of your investment) |
||||
| Investment Advisory Fee | 0.23% | 0.23% | 0.23% | 0.23% |
| Distribution and Service (12b-1) Fees | 0.20% | 1.00% | None | None |
| Other Expenses | 0.55% | 0.54% | 0.53% | 0.54% |
| Total Annual Trust Operating Expenses | 0.98% | 1.77% | 0.76% | 0.77% |
| (1) | Shareholders who purchase $250,000 or more of Class A Shares do not pay an initial sales charge but may pay a contingent deferred sales charge of up to 0.75 of 1% for redemptions within one year of purchase and up to 0.50 of 1% for redemptions during the second year after purchase. |
Example
This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the Trust with the cost of investing in other mutual funds.
The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Trust for the time periods indicated and then redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Trust's operating expenses remain the same. Six years after the date of purchase, Class C Shares automatically convert to Class A Shares. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
| 1 Year | 3 Years | 5 Years | 10 Years | |
| Class A Shares | $397 | $603 | $826 | $1,466 |
| Class C Shares | $278 | $552 | $950 | $1,669 |
| Class F Shares | $78 | $243 | $423 | $944 |
| Class Y Shares | $79 | $246 | $428 | $955 |
You would pay the following expenses if you did not redeem your Class C Shares:
| Class C Shares | $178 | $552 | $950 | $1,669 |
Portfolio Turnover
The Trust pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Trust shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in annual Trust operating expenses or in the example, affect the Trust's performance. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025, the Trust's portfolio turnover rate was 18% of the average value of its portfolio.
Principal Investment Strategies
Under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the Trust's assets will be invested in municipal obligations that pay interest exempt, in the opinion of bond counsel, from Hawaii State and regular Federal income taxes. In general, almost all of these obligations are issued by the State of Hawaii, its counties and various other local authorities; these obligations may also include certain other governmental issuers. We call these "Hawaiian Obligations." These securities may include participation or other interests in municipal securities and variable rate demand notes. Some Hawaiian Obligations, such as general obligation issues, are backed by the issuer's taxing authority, while other Hawaiian Obligations, such as revenue bonds, are backed only by revenues from certain facilities or other sources
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and not by the issuer itself. These obligations can be of any maturity, but the Trust's weighted average maturity has traditionally been between 5 and 15 years. The Trust is classified as a "non-diversified" investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "1940 Act"), which means it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified fund.
At the time of purchase, the Trust's Hawaiian Obligations must be of investment grade quality. This means that they must either
| ● | be rated within the four highest credit ratings assigned by nationally recognized statistical rating organizations or, |
| ● | if unrated, be determined to be of comparable quality by the Trust's investment adviser, Asset Management Group of Bank of Hawaii (the "Adviser"). |
The Adviser selects obligations for the Trust's portfolio in order to achieve the Trust's objective by considering various characteristics including quality, maturity and coupon rate.
Principal Risks
You may lose money by investing in the Trust. Following is a summary description of certain risks of investing in the Trust.
Market Risk. The market prices of securities or other assets held by the Trust may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably, due to general market conditions, such as real or perceived adverse economic, political, or regulatory conditions, political instability, recessions, inflation, changes in interest or currency rates, lack of liquidity in the bond markets, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, weather or climate events, armed conflict, market disruptions caused by tariffs, trade disputes, sanctions or other government actions, or other factors or adverse investor sentiment. When market prices fall, the value of your investment will likely go down. A change in financial condition or other event affecting a single issuer or market may adversely impact securities markets as a whole.
In the past decade, financial markets throughout the world have experienced increased volatility, depressed valuations, decreased liquidity and heightened uncertainty. Governmental and non-governmental issuers have defaulted on, or been forced to restructure, their debts. These conditions may continue, recur, worsen or spread. Events that have contributed to these market conditions include, but are not limited to, major cybersecurity events; geopolitical events (including wars, terror attacks and economic sanctions); global pandemics; measures to address budget deficits; downgrades of sovereign debt; changes in oil and commodity prices; dramatic changes in currency exchange rates; and public sentiment. Some sectors of the economy and individual issuers have experienced or may experience particularly large losses. Periods of extreme volatility in the financial markets, reduced liquidity of many instruments, increased government debt, inflation, and disruptions to supply chains, consumer demand and employee availability, may continue for some time.
Raising the ceiling on U.S. government debt has become increasingly politicized. Any failure to increase the total amount that the U.S. government is authorized to borrow could lead to a default on U.S. government obligations, with unpredictable consequences for economies and markets in the U.S. and elsewhere. Inflation and interest rates may increase. These circumstances could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Trust's investments, impair the Trust's ability to satisfy redemption requests, and negatively impact the Trust's performance. In addition, inflation, rising interest rates, global supply chain disruptions and other market events could adversely affect the companies or issuers in which the Trust invests. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian securities lost all, or nearly all, their market value. Other securities or markets could be similarly affected by past or future political, geopolitical or other events or conditions.
Governments and central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, have taken extraordinary and unprecedented actions to support local and global economies and the financial markets. These actions have resulted in significant expansion of public debt, including in the U.S. The consequences of high public debt, including its future impact on the economy and securities markets, may not be known for some time. U.S. Federal Reserve or other U.S. or non-U.S. governmental or central bank actions, including increases or decreases in interest rates, or contrary actions by different governments, could negatively affect financial markets generally, increase market volatility and reduce the value and liquidity of securities in which the Trust invests.
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Economies and financial markets throughout the world are increasingly interconnected. Economic, financial or political events, trading and tariff arrangements, armed conflict such as between Russia and Ukraine or in the Middle East, terrorism, natural disasters, infectious illness or public health issues, cybersecurity events, supply chain disruptions, sanctions against Russia, other nations or individuals or companies and possible countermeasures, and other circumstances in one country or region could have profound impacts on other countries or regions and on global economies or markets. As a result, whether or not the Trust invests in securities of issuers located in or with significant exposure to the countries or regions directly affected, the value and liquidity of the Trust's investments may be negatively affected. The Trust may experience a substantial or complete loss on any security or investment.
Interest Rate Risk. The market prices of the Trust's fixed income securities may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change. The value of your investment will generally go down when interest rates rise. A rise in rates tends to have a greater impact on the prices of longer term or longer duration securities. A general rise in interest rates could adversely affect the price and liquidity of fixed income securities and could also result in increased redemptions from the Trust. The maturity of a security may be significantly longer than its effective duration. A security's maturity and other features may be more relevant than its effective duration in determining the security's sensitivity to other factors such as changes in credit quality or in the yield premium that the market may establish for certain types of securities (sometimes called "credit spread"). In general, the longer its maturity the more a security may be susceptible to these factors. When the credit spread for a fixed income security goes up, or "widens," the value of the security will generally go down.
Credit Risk. If an issuer or obligor of a security held by the Trust or a counterparty to a financial contract with the Trust defaults or is downgraded, or is perceived to be less creditworthy, or if the value of the assets underlying a security declines, the value of your investment will typically decline. Changes in actual or perceived creditworthiness may occur quickly. The Trust could be delayed or hindered in its enforcement of rights against an issuer, guarantor or counterparty. Securities in the lowest category of investment grade (i.e., BBB/Baa) may be considered to have speculative characteristics.
Rating Agency Risk. Investment grade debt securities may be downgraded by a major rating agency to below investment grade status, which would increase the risk of holding these securities. In addition, a rating may become stale in that it fails to reflect changes to an issuer's financial condition. Ratings represent the rating agency's opinion regarding the quality of the security and are not a guarantee of quality. Rating agencies are subject to an inherent conflict of interest because they are often compensated by the same issuers whose securities they grade.
Risks Associated with Investments in Hawaii and Other Municipal Obligations. The Trust may be affected significantly by adverse economic, political or other events affecting Hawaii and other municipal issuers in which the Trust may invest. Hawaii's economy, which relies substantially on tourism, the U.S. military, real estate, construction and other service-based industries, depends significantly on conditions in the U.S. economy and key international economies, especially Japan. Hawaii's economy will be affected by, among other factors, the health of the tourism and hospitality sectors, real or threatened acts of war or terrorism, increases in energy and fuel costs, federal fiscal, monetary and trade policies, the strength of the global economy, including a slowdown in growth in the Japanese and Chinese economies, geopolitical risks, and business and consumer uncertainty related to these issues. Hawaii, which consists entirely of islands, is vulnerable to public health issues, food sustainability issues and shortages, climate change and rising sea levels, erosion, high surf, adverse weather, and natural disasters, including earthquakes, storms, flooding, hurricanes, tsunamis and volcanic activity. Municipal issuers may be adversely affected by rising health care costs, unfunded pension liabilities, and by the phasing out of federal programs providing financial support. Unfavorable conditions and developments relating to projects financed with municipal securities can result in lower revenues to issuers of municipal securities, potentially resulting in defaults. Issuers often depend on revenues from these projects to make principal and interest payments. The value of municipal securities also can be adversely affected by changes in the financial condition of one or more individual municipal issuers or insurers of municipal issuers, regulatory and political developments, tax law changes or other legislative actions, and by uncertainties and public perceptions concerning these and other factors. Municipal securities may be more susceptible to downgrades or defaults during recessions or similar periods of economic stress. Financial difficulties of municipal issuers may continue or get worse.
Tax Risk. The income on the Trust's Hawaiian Obligations and other municipal obligations could become subject to Federal and/or state income taxes due to noncompliant conduct by issuers, unfavorable legislation or litigation, or adverse interpretations by regulatory authorities.
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Liquidity Risk. The Trust may make investments that are illiquid or become illiquid after purchase. Illiquid assets may also be difficult to value. Liquidity risk may be magnified in an environment of rising interest rates or widening credit spreads. If the Trust is forced to sell an illiquid security to meet redemption requests or other cash needs, the Trust may be forced to sell the security at a substantial loss or may not be able to sell at all. The Trust may not receive its proceeds from the sale of certain securities for an extended period (for example, several weeks or even longer). In extreme cases, this may constrain the Trust's ability to meet its obligations (including obligations to redeeming shareholders).
Prepayment or Call Risk. Many issuers have a right to prepay their securities. If interest rates fall, an issuer may exercise this right. If this happens, the Trust will not benefit from the rise in the market price of the securities that normally accompanies a decline in interest rates, and will be forced to reinvest prepayment proceeds at a time when yields on securities available in the market are lower than the yield on prepaid securities. The Trust may also lose any premium it paid on prepaid securities.
Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, repayments of fixed income securities may occur more slowly than anticipated by the market. This may drive the prices of these securities down even more because their interest rates are lower than the current interest rate and they remain outstanding longer.
Portfolio Selection Risk. The value of your investment may decrease if the Adviser's judgment about the quality, relative yield, value or market trends affecting a particular security, industry, sector or region, or about market movements, interest rates or other market factors, is incorrect.
Valuation Risk. Nearly all of the Trust's investments are valued using a fair value methodology. The sales price the Trust could receive for any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Trust's valuation of the investment, particularly for securities that trade in thin or volatile markets. These differences may increase significantly and affect Trust investments more broadly during periods of market volatility. Investors who purchase or redeem Trust shares may receive fewer or more shares or lower or higher redemption proceeds than they would have received if the securities had not been fair-valued securities or if a different valuation methodology has been used. The ability to value the Trust's investments may be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third party service providers.
Redemption Risk. The Trust may experience heavy redemptions that could cause the Trust to liquidate its assets at inopportune times or at a loss or depressed value or accelerate taxable gains or transaction costs, which could cause the value of your investment to decline.
Cybersecurity Risk. Cybersecurity failures by and breaches of the Trust's Adviser, Administrator, Transfer Agent, Custodian or other service providers may disrupt Trust operations, interfere with the Trust's ability to calculate its NAV, prevent Trust shareholders from purchasing, redeeming or exchanging shares or receiving distributions or receiving timely information regarding the Trust or their investment in the Trust, cause loss of or unauthorized access to private shareholder information, or result in financial losses to the Trust and its shareholders, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, or additional compliance costs. Substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future. The Trust and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.
Non-Diversification Risk. The Trust is classified as a "non-diversified" investment company under the 1940 Act. Thus, compared with "diversified" funds, it may invest a greater percentage of its assets in obligations of a small number of issuers. In general, the more the Trust invests in the securities of specific issuers or issues of a similar project type, the more the Trust is exposed to risks associated with investments in those issuers or types of projects. Also, the Trust may be more risky than a more geographically diverse fund.
An investment in the Trust is not a deposit in Bank of Hawaii, any of its bank or non-bank affiliates or any other bank, and is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency.
These risks are discussed in more detail later in the Prospectus or in the SAI.
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Trust Performance
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Trust by showing: (a) changes in the Trust's performance from year to year; and (b) by showing how the Trust's average annual total returns for the designated periods compare to the returns of the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index, which may provide an indication of the performance of the overall U.S. municipal fixed income market, the Bloomberg Hawaii Municipal Bond Index, and the Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD. The Trust's past performance (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how the Trust will perform in the future. Updated performance information is available at www.hawaiiantaxfreetrust.com or by calling 800-437-1000 (toll-free).
During the 10-year period shown in the bar chart, the highest return for a quarter was 5.84% (quarter ended December 31, 2023) and the lowest return for a quarter was -4.78 (quarter ended March 31, 2022).
The year-to-date (from January 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025) total return for Class Y Shares was (0.12)%.
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Average Annual Total Returns for the Periods Ended December 31, 2024 |
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| 1 Year | 5 Years | 10 Years |
Since Inception |
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| Class Returns Before Taxes: | |||||||||
| Class A | (2.02)% | (0.68)% | 0.59% | ||||||
| Class C | (0.77)% | (0.68)% | 0.19% | ||||||
| Class F | 1.16% | 0.31% | N/A | 1.22%(1) | |||||
| Class Y | 1.23% | 0.34% | 1.20% | ||||||
| Class Y Returns After Taxes: | |||||||||
| On Distributions | 1.23% | 0.33% | 1.19% | ||||||
| On Distributions and Redemption | 1.66% | 0.72% | 1.41% | ||||||
|
Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index* (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
1.05% | 0.99% | 2.25% | ||||||
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Bloomberg Hawaii Municipal Bond Index* (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
1.02% | 0.76% | 1.98% | ||||||
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Bloomberg Municipal Bond: Quality Intermediate Total Return Index Unhedged USD* (reflects no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes) |
0.62% | 0.94% | 1.82% | 3.79%(1) | |||||
| * | Source: Bloomberg Index Services Limited. BLOOMBERG® is a trademark and service mark of Bloomberg Finance L.P. and its affiliates (collectively "Bloomberg"). Bloomberg, or Bloomberg's licensors, own all proprietary rights in the Bloomberg Indices. Neither Bloomberg nor Bloomberg's licensors approve or endorse this material, or guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information herein, nor does Bloomberg make any warranty, express or implied, as to the results to be obtained therefrom, and to the maximum extent allowed by law, neither shall have any liability or responsibility for injury or damages arising in connection therewith. | |
| (1) | Inception date - November 30, 2018. |
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After-tax returns are calculated using the highest individual Federal marginal income and capital gains tax rates in effect at the time of each distribution and redemption, but do not reflect state and local taxes. Actual after-tax returns will depend on your specific situation and may differ from those shown. The after-tax returns shown are not relevant to investors who hold Trust shares through tax-deferred arrangements such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts. (Please note that an investment in shares of the Trust may not be suitable for you if you are investing through a tax-deferred account). The total returns reflect reinvestment of dividends and distributions. After-tax returns are shown only for Class Y Shares. After-tax returns for other classes of shares will vary.
Management
Investment Adviser - Asset Management Group of Bank of Hawaii
Portfolio Manager - Mr. Reid Smith, CFA, Vice President and Director of Fixed Income at Bank of Hawaii ("BOH"), serves as the lead portfolio manager of the Trust and has held this role since 2021. Mr. Smith brings over 30 years of experience in the investment industry. Mr. Roman Mahi serves as the assistant portfolio manager of the Trust and has held this role since 2025.
Mr. Mahi joined Bank of Hawaii in May 2024 and brings three years of experience in the investment industry. Mr. Mahi holds both a Master's degree and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the Shidler College of Business at the University of Hawaii and has successfully passed Level I of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program.
Purchase and Sale of Trust Shares
You may purchase, redeem or exchange shares of the Trust on any day the New York Stock Exchange is open for business. Shareholders that hold an account directly with the Fund may purchase, redeem and exchange shares of the Fund with the Fund's transfer and shareholder servicing agent through an online investor portal, which can be accessed at my.accessportals.com/app/aql/login.
Shareholders may also purchase, redeem, and exchange shares of the Fund in writing, by telephone or through a financial intermediary.
Shareholders may contact the Trust in writing or by telephone as follows:
| ● | U.S. Postal Service Mail: Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust, P.O. Box 534428, Pittsburgh, PA 15253-4428 |
| ● | Overnight Carrier Deliveries: Hawaiian Tax-Free Trust, Attention 534428, 500 Ross Street, 154-0520, Pittsburgh, PA 15262 |
| ● | The Trust's telephone number is 800-437-1000 |
The minimum initial purchase amount for Class A and Class C Shares is $1,000, or $50 if an automatic investment program is established. There is no minimum for subsequent investments.
Transactions in Class F Shares and Class Y Shares may be made only through a financial intermediary, which may impose separate investment minimums.
Tax Information
The Trust intends to distribute income that is exempt from regular Federal income tax and Hawaii state income tax. Portions of the Trust's distributions may be subject to such taxes and/or to the Federal alternative minimum tax on individuals.
Payments to Broker-Dealers and Other Financial Intermediaries
If you purchase shares of the Trust through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary (such as a bank or financial advisor), the Trust or the Adviser, may pay the intermediary for the sale of Trust shares and related shareholder servicing activities. These payments create a conflict of interest by influencing the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary to recommend the Trust over another investment. Ask your financial advisor or visit your financial intermediary's website for more information.
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AQL-HISPRO-0725